Huskey: Accuracy trumps urgency, every time

In this undated photograph provided by Amy Gonzales, Thomas Matusiewicz, who allegedly fatally shot his former daughter-in-law and her friend in Wilmington, Del., plays with his granddaughters Leigh Matusiewicz, foreground, and Laura Matusiewicz, background. The killings were the culmination of a bitter, years-long custody battle involving the slain woman and the gunman's son. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Amy Gonzalez)

Without it, weíre in the same category with the National Inquirer and to some extent, MSNBC and Fox News.

MSNBC lost all credibility with me when Chris Matthews, their poster boy for all things liberal, declared that he got a tingle down the back of his leg when he heard Obama speak.

Fox has leaned so far to the right on so many occasions it often appears as if it is simply a mouthpiece for the Republican Party; the ultraconservative side, not the sane party members like myself.

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Inane comments aside, a news organization also loses credibility when they rush to air, or publish, breaking news and the reports are filled with mistakes.

We are in danger of rushing to publish events and evaluations that may not be completely accurate when we believe that if we donít have it first, our report is not worth its weight in paper, or ether, depending on your medium platform.

The shooting last week at the courthouse in Wilmington, Del., prompted a cacophony of false reports, inaccurate information and semi-plausible scenarios.

Now, there is a chasm of difference between engaging our audience and reporting on events and happenings in our area that our readers are interested in, and reporting the facts as we know them.

Thankfully, the reporter for NBC10 in Philadelphia reported the facts as she knew them, even though she was being cajoled by the anchors sitting in the newsroom while she was in transit. I found it incredible the anchors were asking for an update while the reporter was in a van on the way to the scene. She told them they would have to wait until she arrived. With that, said anchor then asked when she thought she would be there, to which she replied about 10 to 15 minutes. So, back to the overhead scenes of the courthouse, which showed nothing, and more speculation from the anchors. After about 10 minutes they went back to the reporter, who had just arrived at the scene. Said reporter once again had to put the anchors on hold, explaining that she had just arrived and as of that time had not spoken to anyone at the scene. I applaud her fortitude in the face of the ever-persistent anchor onslaught. Unfortunately, another station didnít have the same luck with their on-the-scene reporter, who spoke at length with someone who told the reporter there was one person dead and several wounded and how the whole event went down. Riveted, I stayed on that station, until the end of the interview when the someone told the reporter, well, he didnít actually see anything, this is just what he had heard.

A couple of weeks ago we heard over the scanner that a pedestrian had been struck on East Main St. We put the initial information out on Twitter, but waited for a reporter to confirm before posting to our website.

Good thing we did.

Seems the pedestrian was a little tipsy, slipped and fell and hit his head; still an accident, but a far cry from a motor vehicle striking a pedestrian.

Unfortunately, a local television station went with the initial report and posted it up to their website that a pedestrian had been struck. And even more unfortunately, they left it there all afternoon.

Now, let me say for the record weíve made our fair share of mistakes. Pointing fingers is not what this column is all about.

Well, it kind of is.

Iím pointing a finger at our whole industry.

Digital, print or broadcast doesnít matter one iota when it comes to credibility. In other words, no matter the platform, the information you receive must be accurate, or we all take a hit.

Journalists are lumped together when it comes to polls on whether they can be trusted, and while I would like to believe that for the most part, print journalists are much more careful when it comes to getting it right, I am also presiding over perhaps the biggest shift in the collection and dissemination of information in the history of journalism. We now tweet something as soon as we know about it, follow it up with a brief on our website, post it on Facebook if itís big enough, and then, at the end of the day, put the final version on a page for the next dayís edition.

At the very core, though, nothing has changed.

No matter the platform, we still have a reporter and a photograph gather information and put it together for your consumption.

How we do that is of utmost importance.

Accuracy must trump urgency every time.

Our credibility depends on it.

Stan Huskey is the editor of The Times Herald. He can be reached at 610-272-2500 ext. 215 or at shuskey@timesherald.com. Follow @StanHuskey on Twitter.